


In Their Own Little Universe

by Everyoneisheretoday5



Category: Butterfly Soup (Visual Novel)
Genre: Also some slight akarsha and Min in here, Confessions, Damn Noelle that’s kinda gay what do you have to say for yourseld, F/F, First Kiss, Noelle realizes she’s a lesbian, anyways this is just Diya and Noelle being soft, i feel like I should start tagging that on every Noediya fic i make, or at least likes girls, running your fingers through your crush’s hair even though yiu can’t since it’s in a braid, study date turned actual date I think, they are just chilling and being gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27518464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everyoneisheretoday5/pseuds/Everyoneisheretoday5
Summary: Noelle realizes a few things on a study date with Diya.
Relationships: Diya/Noelle (Butterfly Soup)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	In Their Own Little Universe

Noelle can't concentrate.

It's stupid. Very stupid of her. It shouldn't be because of the new environment, she's been to Diya's house hundreds of times. It shouldn't be because of any background noise, the room is almost silent except for her and Diya's soft breathing. And it certainly isn't because of the workload. This is easy. She's covered it before.

So maybe the logical thing to do for now if her mind refuses to be more than a crushingly empty canvas is to just take a break. She knows the solutions will come to her when her brain has cleared.

She huffs out a small sigh and lays her head on her arms.

It's getting dark out. The room was starting to get covered in shadows, but Diya turned the lights on some time ago. Various cars pass outside, their noise a small distraction from everything else. But it's calming.

Noelle's eyes flick to the side.

Diya sits hunched over, bangs slightly in her face, staring down at her paper with a slightly furrowed expression. She picks up her pencil and writes another solution in. Diya's handwriting is nowhere near as neat as Noelle's, but it's still readable. She has a tendency to make her writing rather angular, and to trail off at the ends with her utensil if she's feeling unsure of herself.

She twirls her hair around her pencil as she looks at another problem, and Noelle silently wonders if that's how her hair got to be the way it is. Although she severely doubts it. Instead the curls are natural, framing her face and spiraling down.

That's not the only thing that's beautiful about her.

And sure, Noelle could go on and on about her appearance embarrassingly enough (she's probably way too interested in her friend's appearance for a normal teenager... it's not like she's jealous either. Such feelings are pointless. Noelle doesn't care about her appearance, as long as she looks somewhat presentable) but it's her personality that really stands out. It's why Noelle stays with her.

She has a habit of clipping off parts of her sentences, although Noelle can practically hear the rest in her head. But she says only what needs to be said, unlike Noelle, who hides behind large words and fancy language to disguise what she actually feels. And the way she says everything Is soft, and comforting. Noelle isn't quite sure how to describe it. It's almost like Snakey, but human... and vocal. But Noelle is sharp, and loud, and demanding. She knows how her voice cuts across a crowd, and certainty knows how it drips with annoyance when she's miffed. She's nothing like her.

The rest of her is soft too. She's never seen Diya wear anything particularly restricting or rough. The closest thing that you could count as a rough surface on her person would be the hat that she wears. Noelle's outfit is always crisp, with sharp angles and little to no wrinkles, and she never even wears the sweatshirt she keeps tied around her waist. Diya is extremely strong, and yet her actions are never sudden unless in sports, and the affection she gives Noelle sometimes is impossible to escape, and Noelle can feel her arm muscles flex as they wrap around her, and yet there's no chance that she would ever hurt Noelle by accident, even with her strength. That's just how Diya is.

Hell, Diya and Noelle are almost complete opposites in their presentations of themselves and yet... they're still here. Next to eachother, doing homework, studying.

Diya is quiet as usual, but her eyes flick over to Noelle for a second, catching her gaze.

Noelle's heart speeds up. She's not sure why. She's wondered it millions of times because this has happened before. It's like something just... goes through her when she makes eye contact with Diya. Maybe it's the fear that Diya knows that Noelle has been staring... well, looking, at her for the past 45 seconds. But there's no reason to be afraid right?

Staring- looking at her best friend may be unnecesary, but it isn't harmful.

Diya takes the pencil out of her hair and lays her chin in the palm of her hand, the light brown of her face contrasting with the cream it's resting on, since her palms are lighter than the rest of her skin. Her mouth quirks up in a slight smile as she looks at Noelle, her eyes gaining the familiar teasing glint that Noelle is used to only being directed at her. They've known eachother for so long, Noelle is the only one who Diya likes to mess around with. And to Noelle's embarrasment, it usually works. Akarsha and Min love to tease her, but it's different with Diya somehow.

"So bored you have to look at me huh? Have your studies finally broke you?" Her voice rises up in a lilt, although it's still as quiet and soft as usual. Noelle can tell Diya is trying not to break into a grin.

 _...of course she noticed_.

"Of course my studies haven't broken me," she says, glancing away from Diya for a moment, but instead choosing to look at her again. She's nice to look at after all. "I simply know the material, but can't concentrate."

"And yet all you can do is stare at me?"

Noelle feels her face flush. Diya is right. She could have looked on her phone, or done something else, but instead she chose to observe her best friend doing nothing but homework. How silly of her.

She says nothing, and then Diya finally lets herself break into a grin. Noelle knows she likes being able to tease her. It doesn't really go both ways though surprisingly. And the look on Diya's face is more smug than not, infuriatingly enough. But it's okay.

She doesn't really mind.

"Hair is in your face," Diya says, her expression settling down to the one Noelle is more used to, mouth flat, eyebrows relaxed. Her other hand reaches towards Noelle, and Noelle's breath catches in her throat.

Noelle should be used to Diya doing little things like this, but she's _still_ not. A gentle hand brushes some black strands out of her vision, fleeting and warm, and Noelle wants to kick herself for how weird she feels right now. So she just closes her eyes.

She can sense Diya pause for a second, her fingers brushing the corner of Noelle's face, _(what is she doing? There’s no reason for her to continue. The goal has been completed)_ before she trails her hand through Noelle's hair, threatening to disturb of some of the carefully pulled back strands. Her braid is tight, as is the hair on top of her head. There's no reason for Diya to possibly do it. There is no possible reward she could get from it.

But Noelle lets her do it anyways. It feels almost nice. No one else does this.

Noelle still has her head laid down on her arms, but she shifts her head so its sideways and she can open her eyes and look at Diya properly. And she does. Diya's hand stays in her hair, before shifting down so it's almost cupping Noelle's ear.

And it stays.

"What are you even trying to do with my hair?" Noelle asks softly. She doesn't make an attempt to do anything but continue to stare- look at Diya. "It's too tightly braided for you to run your fingers through it properly."

"...I... I like how it looks..." Diya sounds like she's struggling for words, the type she does when she's embarrassed. She doesn't elaborate on her statement, but instead trails her hand through it again before returning her hand to where it was, resting on top of her homework. She looks down at the paper, although she doesn't seem very interested in doing anything with it.

Noelle sits up, her heart still thudding annoyingly in her chest. Diya liking her appearance shouldn't affect her as much as it does. She decides to take a leap of confidence.

"Well... am I allowed to run my fingers through your hair too?"

It's only fair.

And she can't deny that she's curious.

She reluctantly admits to herself that it's something she's always wanted to do, but had the decency not to. Diya's hair has always interested her, since Akarsha doesn't have curly hair, yet Diya does. And Noelle of course doesn't have curly hair either, nor Min-Seo, although Noelle doesn't want to get anywhere close to Min's hair anyways. Either way, Diya is sort of an outlier because of her genetics.

Not to mention how outlandishly tall she is for her age, but that's another matter.

Diya takes her hat off her head (her hair is sticking up in a million directions. Noelle intends to make it presentable as soon as she can) and nods quietly, putting her other hand down so that her chin is no longer resting on it, and fixing her posture.

Noelle adjusts her chair and scoots closer, her and Diya's knees brushing and knocking together next to the desk. Diya looks at her with relaxed features, although she's not exactly smiling. And her hands are now in her lap, fidgeting.

She's nervous, Noelle notes. She intends to be gentle as possible.

Noelle leans forward in her chair and brushes Diya's hat hair so that it lays flat on her head (her hair usually sticks up in a million directions anyways) combing through the small knots and detangling them with her fingers. She stands up, because reaching up with only her arms is tiring and she's already weak as it is. Diya's hair is extremely soft, just like the rest of her, malleable and foldable under her hands.

She brings her hands down to almost cup Diya's face, the edges of her pale palms brushing against her jawline, playing with the curls at the back of her head with the tips of her fingers. A voice in the back of her head screams at her for not doing her work. It's right there, but instead she's wasting her time playing with Diya's hair.

She gets lost in thought trying to justify her currently actions to the part of her who says she's not allowed to be... this, and doesn't even realize she leaned altogether a little too close to Diya's face until she sees her best friend's golden eyes widen in panic and it instantly sends a rush of fear through Noelle's system and she throws herself back, and into her chair.

 _Why did I get that close, why did I get that close, why did I get that close_ -

"Noelle-" Diya says, voice shaking slightly and quiet. Noelle bites her lip. She doesn't want to make Diya uncomfortable, she never meant to do that, she-

"I'm sorry, it was extremely rude of me to-"

A hand reaches out and grabs Noelle's slightly raised wrist, sending a small shock through her system. She raises her eyes from where they were pointedly trying to avoid Diya's face, and looks at her. Diya is tapping her leg with one hand, and looking like she wants to say something.

Noelle notices that Diya's hand is clammy.

"I... uh... girls," Diya says, stumbling and fumbling over her words like she has to talk in the front of the class. The grip on Noelle's wrist increases slightly. "I..les... bean.. less bien... I like girls."

She's shaking. Noelle can feel it from the way her hand loosens, and how her leg is now jittering, foot tapping uncontrollably against the wooden floor. Noelle is still confused by Diya's statement, although she knows it obviously has a lot of importance, head empty. So she just gently puts her own hand on top of Diya's, heart going a million miles per hour. It feels like everything is chaos, but it's not.

It's just them.

"It's okay, Diya," Noelle says, running her thumb back and forth across Diya's knuckles in an effort to comfort her. "It's okay."

"No, you don't understand-" Diya whispers. Her cheeks are a little darker than usual. "While we were walking to school a couple weeks ago, Akarsha taught me that girls can like other girls. Romantically. And then of course there's Min-Seo's obvious crush on her...I... It..."

She's still struggling for words. Noelle knows about Min, she knows how she fumbles around Akarsha and throws cheesy pick-up lines at her for no reason. And she knows how Akarsha dated someone last year... by the name of Esther. And how many jokes she makes...

"You. I like you. Romantically."

The sentence makes Noelle freeze. It feels like everything is on overdrive. If Diya likes her romantically... is that why she panicked when she got too close to her face? Is it actually possible that she feels stuff around her? She likes her appearance... does she find her attractive? Is that what liking someone romantically feels like?

According to everything Noelle has ever read (including when she looked up "homosexuality" on Wikipedia to understand Min's behavior) that's what it should be like. It seems almost unbelievable.

And then it hits her.

Really, really, fucking hard.

It clicks.

_Holy shit._

Noelle doesn't usually swear. But this situation calls for it.

Everything makes so much sense now. She has a reason for why her heart speeds up around Diya, or why she blushes so much, or why she finds her... attractive, and likes looking at her, or how almost everything that Diya does makes her melt with something she can't define, but now she has a name for.

 _Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit_.

She doesn't even want to think of the consequences of these feelings right now. She finally knows what they are. It's like making some kind of groundbreaking discovery.

She snaps out of her head, and she wants to hug Diya, but she doesn't know how to do it. Diya looks like she wants to run. She's avoiding Noelle's gaze, and her hand slips away from Noelle's wrist. She shifts quickly, and Noelle knows almost by instinct that she's going to try and escape.

She reaches out and grabs Diya's sweatshirt, standing up with her, and the momentum bringing her crashing into Diya's shoulder.

"Me too-" she chokes out, the words tumbling out of her mouth almost without her control. Diya catches her as Noelle stumbles to the side, looking almost frightened, and surprised. "I like you too. Romantically."

Her face feels like it's on fire. Diya is supporting her, hands firm on either of Noelle's upper arms, and her golden-yellow eyes are flitting every which way, like they can't decide what to land on.

"Are you sure?" She whispers. "You don't have to-"

"Diya, I finally have an answer to everything I feel around you," Noelle says, almost desperately, looking up at her. "This is the most sure I've felt about something in months. I'm not trying to make you feel better, or whatever it is you think I'm doing. I'm not that kind of person. This is genuine."

Diya starts shaking again, but this time she pulls in Noelle for a hug, (which is exactly what Noelle wanted- she must know her well) her warmth enveloping the smaller girl. Noelle feels her breath catch in her throat again, and she's not really sure what else to do, so she buries her face in Diya's shoulder and wraps her arms around her torso, practically melting into her. She doesn't get to do this often. It's not like anyone except Diya makes an effort to be like this with her. So she savors it while it lasts, standing with her best friend who she's had a...crush (Noelle isn't used to the word. It feels silly.) on for who knows how long, standing in the middle of her room.

Diya's comforting. Noelle doesn't have to worry about what anyone else might think of them right now, despite the little nagging voice in the back of her head.

Diya's head is resting on Noelle's shoulder, and when she shifts so she's nearly snuggling into Noelle, Noelle feels her heart speed up again, for maybe the 6th...7th... how many time had it been today? Too many. But it's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

Noelle closes her eyes.

And then Diya breaks the hug, but not completely. Her arms are still loosely wrapped around Noelle's shoulders. They're still standing incredibly close. Noelle isn't sure what to do as Diya pulls away and her arms drop to her side, so she just... stands there. And looks at her. And then she feels a lump rise in her throat as Diya slowly and carefully cups the side of her jaw with one hand, eyes narrowed in concentration.

_What... what is she... what is she doing?_

Noelle swallows nervously. Diya's palm is slightly rough from years of gripping baseball bats, but still soft. And gentle as always. Noelle is reminded of earlier, when Diya was resting her hand on the side of Noelle's head.

It feels very intimate for some reason. But maybe that's because Noelle isn't used to it.

"Are you okay, Diya?" Noelle asks quietly. Diya nods, and huffs out a small sigh. And then she leans closer. Thier faces are mere inches apart.

Noelle isn't sure her heart can handle the proximity. Her face feels like it's on fire.

"..." Diya pauses for a couple of tense ( _how is she so close how is she so close what is she doing what am I_ -) seconds, and then finally whispers, "...can I kiss you?...it's okay to say no."

The world stops.

Noelle feels like she's malfunctioning. Maybe Akarsha was right when she declared that she was a robot.

Diya waits. Her hand is now softly combing through Noelle's hair again, absentmindedly. Noelle can tells it's by sheer will that Diya isn't backing out of this, taken by how nervous she looks, eyes looking anywhere but at Noelle's face. She might have managed to get the words out before Noelle had even thought of them but it's practically a miracle by her standards.

And she offered her a way out. Noelle can tell that by how increasingly loose her half-hug is becoming by every second that she's ready to let Noelle go, no questions asked.

 _...it's just like her. She's not going to kiss me without my consent. That's...she... that's what I like about her. She even said it verbally_.

Noelle eye's flit over Diya's face, weighing the consequences in her mind. But really... if they're going by what Noelle actually wants...

She...

She wouldn't mind that.

She nods.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a reference to the fact that there’s literally nothing going on around them for the entire story sodhskdksdk
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! This was a little out of my comfort zone, but I’ve had this idea in my head for a couple days. Thanks for reading!


End file.
